Supporting children and families in Fife

We are delighted that following an open tendering process we will be supporting children, young people and families across Fife.

The service will support individual children and young people with outcomes identified from their Child’s Plan. We will work to maintain young people at home or in the community in Fife wherever possible, and to return them from placements outside of Fife.

The key outcomes for the service include preventing family breakdown, supporting alternatives to residential care, crisis support, raising attainment and reducing offending and risk taking behaviour.

Includem has been delivering an intensive support service in Fife for many years and has delivered a positive outcome for 83% of the 171 young people supported last year. One young person supported by the service is Jennifer:

Jenny's Story

Jenny was referred to Includem whist she was accommodated in another local authority with the aim to return her home to Fife.

Jenny’s mum had concerns about her ability to manage her challenging behaviour and her risk taking in the community, so an intensive package of support focused on the needs of Jenny and the wider family was put in place to support the transition.

Includem provided five hours of face to face support per week both in Jenny’s house and in the community, encouraging her to get involved in local fun activities. This also helped rebuild and strengthen the relationship Jenny had with her mum.

In addition Includem put in place regular pro-active calls via our 24/7 support helpline to her mum to check everything was going okay and to reinforce some of the work carried out during other activities. Her mum was able to use the helpline at points of crisis to prevent things from breaking down.

Jenny built strong, positive relationships with her workers which allowed us to challenge her around her alcohol and drug misuse, which was one of the key risk factors for her staying safe in the community. Jenny was encouraged to think about her own aspirations for the future, and set her own goals with small milestones she could see she had achieved.

After twelve months of support Jenny moved on from Includem. She was living at home with her mum and baby sister and was safe in the community. She had achieved many of her goals and had the confidence and resilience to continue working towards others. She was happy, taking part in fun activities and engaging with education.